by frog
A thought-provoking opinion piece from New Scientist:
Before long we will know whether Barack Obama meant it – when he said that, whatever the financial traumas, a national surge to equip America with home-grown, green sources of energy was his number one economic priority.
Even as the votes were being cast, some said going green would have to wait. But the president-elect has been saying it has to be done now: for the planet, for American energy security – and for the good of an economy that badly needs government investment to kick start growth. Green jobs for a green economy…
In the context of our own election it defines the worldwide movement that we can either choose to be a part of or be left behind.
Published in Economy, Work, & Welfare | Environment & Resource Management by frog on Fri, November 7th, 2008
Tags: , america, Barack Obama, climate change, energy
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
I wish that GW would hurry up and arrive!
Almighty thundering hail storm here in Wellington….
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BP, global warming has localised effects, and one of these is that Wellington is expected to get windier, and more extreme weather events are expected for NZ. Not good news if you’re looking for an upside!
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See NIWA and MFE‘s scenarios
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Here we go again….
If it hails, it’s a sign of global warming.
If it doesn’t hail, it’s a sign of global warming.
If it looks like hail, but turns out to be rain, it’s a sign of global warming.
If it’s cold, it’s a sign of global warming.
If it’s hot, it’s a sign of global warming.
At least I know what to watch out for: all weather conditions.
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Blue Peter – “Here we go again” – how apt that you favour that phrase!
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…on my own….
Going down only road I’ve ever known…..
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If it’s todays weather it is a sign that the Sun has not gone nova. That’s about it.
BJ
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- “for the good of an economy that badly needs government investment to kick start growth…In the context of our own election it defines the worldwide movement that we can either choose to be a part of or be left behind.”
I thought being left behind was your economic plan?
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# BluePeter Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
> I wish that GW would hurry up and arrive!
> Almighty thundering hail storm here in Wellington….
actually, it hails in all seasons, in a wide range of latitudes. always has done. hail doesn’t tell you much about climate at all.
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# georgedarroch Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
> BP, global warming has localised effects, and one of these is that Wellington is expected to get windier, and more extreme weather events are expected for NZ. Not good news if you’re looking for an upside!
it does mean a wider range of suitable sites for wind farms. see, everything has an up-side.
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Wat
Whether you reckon it might be a result, we don’t. It isn’t our plan, its your description. Likely because you aren’t paying attention to our actual plans. Look up the economic policies. Bankrupting the country isn’t mentioned once.
BJ
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“Blue Peter – “Here we go again” – how apt that you favour that phrase!”
Yea, it doesn’t matter what happens, BP take it as evidence against GW.
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Excellent policy.
I hope John Key also sees economic sense in pushing green technology as a way to get economic growth while at the same time benefitting the planet.
I’m not a fan of growth philosophies, but given the huge recessionary hole we are tumbling into, an upsurge of green technologies and green business would help put the brakes on the descent.
Which, of course, is the reason why the Green party should have been reshaping itself as a centrist party.
Green philosophies are now much more central in peoples minds, even if they dont accept the idea of GW. Everyone knows we have to care for our planet.
Most people want to adopt green concepts and green technologies into their lives. What they don’t want is for a “Green party” to enslave their lives to odd philosophies.
I am sure Obama has the charisma necessary to add weight to the push for green-ness; and I can only wish that a similar drive could happen here.
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“Enslave their lives to odd philosophies”? Whatever do you mean?
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What I mean is that people are keen to incorporate green principles into their lives if they see real benefit in it; but don’t want those changes to be enforced on them.
Especially if is more of a social philosophy (eg “don’t smack your kids”) rather than a truly green principle that saves the planet.
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I see – the usual waste of everyone’s time by interpreting our policies as somehow nothing to do with saving the planet. I really don’t have time for this – I suggest you go back onto other threads and read bjchip and Valis and other postings for a reasoned analysis of our “odd philosophies” and how they are in fact related to each other.
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Janine…this thread seems to be about Obama’s encouragement of the development of green energy choices as a method of boosting the economy at the same time as truly helping the planet.
That is a concept I have been actively pushing since about 1989. It is long overdue, and something we really need in New Zealand, especially now that businesses are going to be struggling and we need to encourage innovation and development.
Plenty of us have been rather discouraged by the Green Party hijacking of ‘environmentalism’ toward socialist policies, and I, for one, find it refreshing to find a blog topic here that sees some benefit in combining green-ness with business productivity.
Many of the topics I have watched on frogblog have been scathing of any kind of political union with people or parties who share philosophies in common with National and/or the business community, favouring instead a more or less exclusive “left wing” approach.
Everyone in New Zealand deserves to be heard on green issues. and desrves to be able to make a green vote without having such a vote also effectively sponsoring a party that refuses to move more to the “centre”.
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“Almighty thundering hail storm here in Wellington” Typical! Canterbury needs it – Wellington gets it. You wait till these neverending hot sunny days pushes up the price of food and then see if you’re still gloating about getting all the best weather
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